What the 2026 AI Index Actually Tells Small Nonprofit Leaders (And What It Doesn't Tell) (1 of 4) - Susan Mernit The 2026 Stanford AI Index Report has real implications for small nonprofits — but the headline numbers require careful translation. Here's what the data actually means at your organizational scale.

Digging into the new 2026 Stanford HAI AI report from the perspective of what it means for small nonprofits--a 4-part series, starting here: susanmernit.com/2026/04/2026...

What Ozempic Taught Me About Style and Self-Worth I have always loved clothes. Gaining 100 pounds robbed me of my sense of style, but not my interest in fashion. Nine months on GLP-1s and a diary changed everything all over again.

Totally enjoyed this great read: www.gq.com/story/what-o...

The well-documented and precise level of ICK and grift @jenniferweiner.bsky.social is documenting—and I only got to read the free part—is such a compelling, and uneasy read: open.substack.com/pub/jennifer...

Style Granny 10: Three Days Thrifting in Round Top Aka Cover Your Bases #88

​​ More writing! We went thrifting in Round Top, Texas! Here’s my Style Granny post about the thrifting, the trip, and the experience of leaving one bubble (Bay Area) for another (deep Texas).
susanmernit.substack.com/p/style-gran...

CYB #87: Some great things to read and watch (and a little weightlifting) It’s spring, and life feels paradoxical.

New Cover Your Bases Newsletter #87, focused on good things to read and watch: open.substack.com/pub/susanmer...

If You Need a Laptop, Buy It Now Electronics are getting more expensive and worse. Blame the AI boom.

Reading www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

Style Granny 9: Packing for a 5-Day Girls' Trip to Round Top, TX AKA Cover Your Bases #86

More fun with Style Granny posts: fashion, thrifting, family, with kind of with a dose of MAGA. susanmernit.substack.com/p/style-gran...

Opinion | I Saw Something New in San Francisco

Appreciating the value in this essay. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/o...

How to Use AI for Post-Award Grant Work — Without the Guesswork - Susan Mernit Learn five practical ways to use AI for post-award grant work, from tracking requirements to drafting reports, using a simple AI Binder workflow.

#AI can help with post-award grant work—but only if you have a system in place. Here are five practical ways to use it for reporting, calendars, budget review, and more, based on a workshop I did for #Instrumentl last week. susanmernit.com/2026/03/how-...

Style Granny 8: How I’m Storing My Vintage Woolens This Spring AKA Cover Your Bases #85

Yeah, I've totally gotten into #vintage! A great self-care focus area. Here's the latest post in that thread: susanmernit.substack.com/p/style-gran...

Boosting. I did civic tech support work for @knightfoundation.org projects for many years.

Going to read deeply about this. Good on you, @knightfoundation.org

Style Granny #7: What I'm Wearing This Summer (And What I'm Leaving Behind) Cover Your Bases #84

#fashion Style Granny #7: what I’m wearing this summer, what I’m leaving behind, and how my summer wardrobe is evolving from last year.
open.substack.com/pub/susanmer...?

CYB #83: There is nothing vague about Nouvelle Vague Plus things to watch, eat, and do—and whether I’m leaving ChatGPT

A new newsletter, Cover Your Bases with movie recs--and thinking about leaving ChatGPT. open.substack.com/pub/susanmer...?

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Stupid begets stupid. Great reporting in awful decisions. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

Yep

Claude for Open Source | Claude by Anthropic Apply to the Claude for Open Source program. Eligible OSS maintainers and contributors get Claude Max for 6 months on us.

Sharing claude.com/contact-sale...

Witches who lift!! Especially strong mothers

Loving this great #weightlifting read www.evilwitches.com/witches-who-...

CYB #81: Amazing Art, Practical AI Governance …And What I’m Reading & Watching

New Cover Your Bases Newsletter is up: susanmernit.substack.com/p/cyb-81-ama...?

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War A statement from our CEO on national security uses of AI

Sharing www.anthropic.com/news/stateme...

The State of the Union Revealed a Sad Reality Donald Trump misused the annual presidential tradition in ways so radical as to call the ritual itself into question.

"It is as if the nation were being soaked by a torrential downpour, water rolling over umbrellas and into boats, soaking everyone’s clothes—and the leader whose job it is to lead them through the deluge insists that it is... in fact, ...the sunniest day ever." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

Which of these is not like the other? "Just as President Trump has said, he's been totally exonerated on anything relating to Epstein," --White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson--and this-- www.npr.org/2026/02/24/n...

Words Without Consequence What does it mean to have speech without a speaker?

Reading www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

An AI Checklist Isn’t the Solution: Shared Agreements Are - Susan Mernit AI adoption is high, but impact stays limited when teams avoid shared decisions. Clarify boundaries, verification, and accountability in one workflow.

New blog post on obstacles for nonprofits using AI to turn their usage into a shared practice. susanmernit.com/2026/02/an-a... #ai #nonprofitai

Something Messy Is Happening: On AI, Panic, and Asking Better Questions Maybe you, like me, read Matt Shumer's viral piece about AI eliminating 50% of white-collar jobs in the next 1-5 years and maybe you, like me, thought… Oh. Isht.

And a refreshing push back: www.linkedin.com/pulse/someth...

Something Big Is Happening Think back to February 2020. If you were paying close attention, you might have noticed a few people talking about a virus spreading overseas.

This post about AI and the future of work by #MattSchumer has gone so viral that two non-techy friends called today to discuss what it could mean for their young daughter's future. I find the tone a little too dramatic; yet the assertions are spot on. : www.linkedin.com/pulse/someth...

CYB #79: Style Granny 3: Dressing for a special birthday winter weekend in LA Getting into a weekend's worth of thrifted, vintage clothes

Check out my new post! It’s a deep dive into a weekend of thrifted, vintage clothes for a special LA weekend with family and friends. susanmernit.substack.com/p/cyb-79-sty...

Bad Bunny's Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show YouTube video by NFL

SO much great energy here. BadBunny is the best. www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Fu...

Borrowed time at Hokkaido's Station Inn Hirafu A stay at Station Inn Hirafu, a place sustained by a fragile equilibrium between human, nature and railroad - and repeated shinkansen delays.

Absolutely loving this piece about wolf extinction disrupting Japan’s ecosystem, written from the context of Frank Shyong's visit to Hokkaido's Station Inn Hirafu. Dreaming and reading! frankbear.substack.com/p/borrowed-t...

Style Granny! More in this series on getting into vintage fashion as an older lady and becoming more intentional about clothes. And yeah, this one has AI tools, too.
susanmernit.substack.com/p/cyb-78-sty...